A Love Story Long Ago
by Sylviecake231
Summary: Set in 1922, Pennsylvania. Aria Montgomery is the 18-year-old daughter of two wealthy aristocrats, engaged to be married to an older man from an equally rich family. Jason DiLaurentis is her opposite is almost every way: free from a life set in stone. When they meet, sparks fly, but can she ever truly be with Jason with her family so set on Ezra? AU Jaria/Spoby/Haleb/Paily
1. Prologue: Aria's Letter

**A/N – This'll be my last new story in a while, but I had to get this up, because I love the idea so much :D I need to work on FFF and BCWYWF before I can really start this though, so sorry about that :(**

**Set in Pennsylvania in 1922**

_Summary - Set in 1922, Pennsylvania. Aria Montgomery is the 18-year-old daughter of two wealthy aristocrats, engaged to be married to an older man from an equally rich family. Jason DiLaurentis is her opposite is almost every way: poor while she is rich, free from a life planned to every last detail. When they meet, Aria begins to find out that luxury is not always the key to a happy life, but can she ever truly be with Jason while her family are chaining her down to Ezra? AU Jaria/Spoby/Haleb/Paily_

**Disclaimer – I don't own Pretty Little Liars :(**

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For my darling mother,

By now you must have noticed that I'm not at home. I've left this letter for just you rather than for Daddy as well in the hope that you will be more understanding about my decision than him.

The truth is such an honest and yet most dangerous thing. Sometimes I wish I'd confessed earlier, but then you would've stopped me from doing what I have done, which I couldn't have dealt with. Because now, I give you the truth. I've met someone who understands me like no other. I know you had your heart set on me marrying Ezra, but truth be told, I didn't love him, not the way I love Jason. I kept our relationship a secret from everyone because I knew you wouldn't approve. He's poor; his family travels a lot, moving from town to town. He is Ezra's opposite in almost every way: Ezra always made me feel like the girl I was; a wealthy aristocrat. He bought me music boxes and that baby grand piano that stands in my bedroom. Oh I always loved that piano! I used to run my fingers over the keys and play my favourite tunes for hours on end.

Jason can't play the piano. He doesn't sing, or write, or paint, yet he loves me unconditionally, and I don't judge him for not loving the things I do, because he loves that I love them. He's heard me play hundreds of times, and sat for many a portrait. You haven't seen those, for I hid every single on so that no one found out my secret. His talents are more business-like than mine, although he has a fondness for architecture. He's made a plan of the more adorable little cottage, and someday, he says he's going to build it for us. Because my wealth doesn't matter to him. He doesn't care that I grew up with four-poster beds, and that I don't have any friends other than the ones you and Daddy picked out for me. He loves me for me, and in return I don't care that he grew up in a gypsy caravan, because to me, his life sounds enchanting. A life of travelling, of freedom and being able to make your own decisions. It's a life I've never experienced, and I can't wait to.

You've probably guessed by now why I'm writing this letter. Jason and his friends and family are packing up tonight and leaving, and I'm going with them. It's the life I've always wanted; a life of freedom, and the fact that I can live that with Jason makes me feel so happy inside. Just being with him makes me so happy, and I couldn't pass up an opportunity to spend the rest of my life with him for the rest of the world.

I hope you can find it in your heart to understand why I have done this. I did it out of love for Jason, not out of want to escape the life I have. You have always been good parents, and I'll miss you when I'm gone. I'll write, of course, and visit occasionally, for I don't want it to be that I never see you again.

I hope that one day, whether you disown me or not, you can forgive me for what I have done.

All my love,

Aria Marie Montgomery

Friday, February 8th 1922

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**To be continued :)**


	2. Love, Aria

**A/N –Thank you so much for your lovely response to this story! I know many of you prefer my other stories, but personally, I love the storyline and theme of this one. Plus, I have a newfound love for the 1920s :) By the way, last chapter was the Prologue. This is Chapter 1, officially.**

**OMIGOSHTVDISSOOAMAZING! **

**Sorry for that outburst. For those of you who aren't aware, I have recently started watching The Vampire Diaries, and have found it to be my greatest discovery since I found PLL in August 2012. My favourite ships on TVD are Janna and Klaroline. I've just finished the episode when Klaus gets desiccated, and I burst out sobbing. I mean, I know he's bad and all, but I really do love him :) And I loved Anna so much. I can't believe they killed her off! I absolutely love Jeremy and Anna, and I also love how blunt Klaus was when he told Caroline he fancied her :D That just made my evening.**

**WHO'S LOOKING FORWARD TO PLL LATER? Please don't spoil anything in your reviews, since I can't watch it until tomorrow evening. Living in Britain is **

**Disclaimer – If I owned PLL, Spoby would be the centre focus of every second episode. The remaining episodes would be full of Jaria ;)**

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'"_So this child named Aubrey was the bravest of children-'_

"_Why?" I interrupted. 'What made her so brave?"_

"_I'm not sure. I think it had something to do with her heart."_

"_Yeah?"_

"_She wrapped it up in cellophane, to keep it fresh for later."'_

_-Aubrey and Gram, 'Love, Aubrey'._

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10:00. That was when the party was supposed to start. Except that when he said 10:00, Byron Montgomery actually meant that all the guests should arrive at 10:00, and that Aria and Mike should make a dramatic appearance an hour or so later. Therefore Aria needed to use that time to make a special effort on her appearance. Not that she didn't have to usually. As the daughter of one of the wealthiest and well-known families in the state, Aria couldn't even stay at home without looking less than perfect.

At that moment, she was gazing at herself in her full-length mirror, and, for the countless time, cursing whichever family member it was that gave her her height genes. She couldn't remember anyone in her family as short as her, but she hadn't gotten those genes from nowhere, had she?

"What is it, Miss Aria?" asked Belle. Aria had two servant girls to help her with dressing, clean and provide general company for her; Isabella and Louisa. Belle was originally from Italy, but could speak English just as well as anyone else. She was an average-height brunette with a shy nature and a heart of gold. Lou was Belle's complete opposite appearance-wise; she was tall, with long blonde hair and the bluest eyes Aria had ever seen, but she too was quiet. She didn't have the timidness that Belle had, but since her family had become poor, and she'd had to become a servant, Lou's outgoing personality had glazed over. It was still there, beneath the surface, though, and Aria got to see patches occasionally, especially when it came to parties such as this one.

Aria looked at Belle's confused face in the mirror. "What makes you think anything's wrong, Belle?"

"Nothing, Miss Aria. I just thought... you looked a little upset."

"No Belle. I'm fine. I was just imagining what it would be like to be taller."

"Oh, Miss Aria, don't think that!" answered Lou. Lou was the tallest of the three, standing at 5'8, and she was forever wishing she could be shorter.

"No? Well, I suppose being short give me an excuse to wear heels all the time. When is Mike going to be arriving?"

"Master Michelangelo? Not for another half an hour. Why?"

Aria laughed. "I'm sorry, Lou," she answered. "I just find it funny when you call him 'Michelangelo'. Please, just call him Mike. I know he'd appreciate it more."

Lou blushed. "Sorry, Miss Aria. Of course."

Aria felt bad then. "No, no, it's quite alright, Lou. It's just that he doesn't particularly like his full name."

"There!" Belle cried, adjusting Aria's necklace once more, and then turning her back towards the mirror. Aria looked into the mirror and saw a stranger looking back at her. She looked beautiful and so unlike her that Aria was tempted to cry, but she couldn't, for fear of smudging her carefully applied makeup. She smiled, and the figure in the mirror smiled a perfect, lipsticked smile back.

"It's perfect," she replied.

An hour later, and the party was in full swing. There were butlers serving drinks, couples dancing on the dance floor and quite a few people were rather tipsy by the time that Byron strode down to the parting of the staircase and ordered for quiet.

"Good," he said loudly, gazing down to the hundreds of people at the party. "I do hope that you're all enjoying yourselves down there." Here there was applause by some of the people, and loud whoops from some of the more drunk ones. "As you all know, my wife Ella and I," he said, hugging Ella to his side, "have two children, and it is with great privilege that they are coming down to join us tonight, for my daughter, Aria, is the reason this party is happening, for her eighteenth birthday. Happy birthday, Aria!" The crowd burst into applause as Aria, dressed in a grey flapper dress and heels to match, appeared, her hand clutching Mike's arm, who was wearing a formal suit and a grin on his face, probably from the thought of the opportunities he would have at this party to act at least three years older than he was.

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and the party continued, Aria being pulled into the crowd to dance with one person after another. She knew none of these people, and ended up dancing with people her own age to an age more near her grandfather, before she was pulled away to dance with a group of her mother's friends. By the time they rushed off to find their husbands as a slower song came on, Aria was exhausted. She headed over to the snack table, and observed the party as she delicately ate an olive. The party was definitely a success, and she watched people dancing, drinking and smoking, the fumes dancing up and evaporating into nothingness.

Aria wrinkled her nose. She'd never been fond of smoking.

Suddenly, without knowing how she knew, she knew that she had to get out of there, if only for a little while. She hitched up the skirt of her dress slightly, and hurried as fast as she could wearing four-inch-heels out of the massive doorway, past a group of elderly men talking by the balcony, and down the stairs onto the grassy lawn.

"Hey, Birthday Girl, where you going'?" slurred someone from behind her, but Aria didn't even turn around as she ran down to the bottom of the lawn, and through a small gap in the otherwise perfectly manicured hedge.

Slipping through the gap easily due to her size, Aria stopped to take in the sight before her. For as long as she could remember, she'd been coming to this meadow whenever she needed time to think, or a quiet place to read. The grass was green like nothing else, and there was a large pond in the furthest left corner, shaded partly by a massive weeping willow. However, this time when she looked around, she spotted a new addition: a small group of gypsy caravans in the right-hand corner. Even from the distance she was at, she could see a blonde woman tending to a small barbeque, while a younger blonde girl sat hand-in-hand with a dark-haired guy nearby.

Aria made her way over to the pond, and luckily for her no one saw her or tried to stop her. She sat down next to it, stretching out her feet and looking around her. There were about nine caravans of different colours, and they were all parked neatly in a small semi-circle, with the barbeque set up in the middle. A few more people were coming out of their caravans now; a dark-haired boy with a guitar strapped around his shoulder and a shorter brunette, who headed straight for the couple by the barbeque with a hairbrush in her hand. She said something to the blonde girl, who then got up, kissed her boyfriend on the cheek, and followed her over to a blue caravan, which they went into.

She squinted around again, trying to see more, but the light from the sky was long gone, and she could only just make out people's outlines and their hair colours. Giving up, she looked over at the pond. It was so peaceful here, and so beautiful. She felt like she could stay there all night, and she wished she'd brought a book.

"Hey," came a voice from behind her, and Aria jolted with shock and surprise. Tense and slightly scared, she looked to her right and saw a man standing there, looking at her like he could see right into her head and heart.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," he apologised, sitting down next to her.

"Apology accepted," Aria replied.

"So why don't I know you? Are you..." he trailed off, gesturing to the caravans.

Aria sighed. "No. Usually I'm locked up tighter than Rupunzel. I live just up the hill," she told him, pointing to her house looming up behind them. He smiled at her joke, even though she was only half-joking, and Aria noticed how his features lit up when he smiled. Now that he was closer to her, she could make out the fine structure of his face; how some of his ash-blond hair fell over his face at the front; how his teeth were white and even, and, although it was too dark to tell what colour eyes he had, they seemed to sparkle, even when he wasn't smiling. She found herself smiling back at him, and, for a moment, she forgot that she was angry and her father for hosting this party she didn't even want. She forgot that she was an eighteen-year-old aristocrat who had servants to put of her shoes for her and file her nails for her. For a moment, she was just a normal girl. She'd never actually been a normal girl before, but sitting there, smiling at this gorgeous boy she didn't even know, she felt like one. And it felt _so_ good.

"I'm Jason, he said, extending his arm towards her.

Aria took it, noticing a shivery, warm feeling pass from her hand through to the rest of her body when she touched his skin. "Aria."

"Aria," he repeated, letting the name roll over his tongue like honey. "It's a beautiful name, a musical term. How did your parents come up with that one?"

"My mother went to visit a fortune teller while five months pregnant with me," Aria explained. "The fortune teller told her I would be born with musical talent, so she named me Aria. She loved the name anyway, so what the fortune teller told her just confirmed it."

"And are you musically talented?"Jason asked.

Aria looked away. "I guess so. I play guitar and the piano. And I sing." She didn't know why she'd told Jason that. No one who didn't live in her house knew about Aria's singing. Her dream was to be a professional musician, and an occasional author, but her parents had different ideas. Although they thought that a girl should be able to sing, as it was a very feminine thing to be able to do, they were always telling her that once she married Ezra, she wouldn't need a job. Her job would be to look pretty around the house while the servants did the real jobs, and to sometimes visit friends or host parties. She wouldn't need a job, they told her. It didn't even occur to them that she might actually _want _one.

"That sounds like someone with musical talent to me. Do you think you could play for me sometime, or sing?" And Aria found herself agreeing, besides the fact that she hardly knew the man.

"Hey, Jason!" came a female voice from over by the barbeque, which Aria suddenly noticed was now surrounded by a group of about 20 people huddled around the stove, being passed out plates with sausages and bread rolls. "It's dinner time!"

Jason grinned over at the tall brunette calling him, and then turned back to Aria. "I've got to go have dinner. Do you want to join us?"

Aria bit her lip. Dinner with Jason did sound lovely, and even if she didn't know anybody else, she knew Jason, and she knew he wouldn't leave her out. She also knew that she should probably get back to the party, but being with Jason meant that her heart seemed to have priority over her mind. So she nodded shyly, and didn't think about what her parents would say if they knew.

Jason led her over to the group, and Aria noticed that the group had moved away from the barbeque, so that it sat a few metres away, looking abandoned, a few sparks from the grill still visible in the ashes. Now, everyone was huddled around a campfire, toasting marshmallows and laughing, and Aria couldn't imagine a more comfortable atmosphere. This was certainly nothing like mealtimes with her own family.

"Hey everyone, this is Aria," Jason explained to the group when they got close. "She's going to be joining us for dinner."

Aria had been expecting Jason's friends and family to shoo her away, or ignore her, but instead she was met with smiles, and the brunette girl who'd called over Jason moved up and patted the log they were sitting on, silently summoning her to sit with them. She couldn't remember feeling so wanted by a group of strangers.

"Hello, Aria," chimed the girl on Aria's other side once she sat down. Glancing over, she saw the blonde girl she'd seen earlier. "I love your dress! What's the occasion?"

Aria gave a small smile. "It's my birthday tomorrow."

"It is? Oh my gosh, happy birthday! Jason, did you know that it's Aria's birthday tomorrow?" Hanna asked, and Jason's eyes widened from where he stood across from them, behind an older woman with blonde hair. "Typical. I'm sure you don't even know when Spencer's is."

"Of course I do! It's April 11th," he replied, and the blonde sniffed.

"You forgot Caleb's birthday last year."

"Yes, well, Spencer's special," he said, coming over and slinging his arm over whom Aria took to be his girlfriend's shoulders. "Of course I know her birthday."

"Jason!" The brunette, Spencer, scolded him, removing his arm from her shoulders. "Personally, I think Caleb is more important."

"There! See, Jason?" No one cares about you," the blonde told him playfully, while a dark-haired boy across from them burst out laughing.

"I'm just joking, Jase," the brown-haired girl said. "You know that."

"Yeah, I guess I do," Jason replied, smiling. "But just to make sure, I think you should do all the dishes for the next week."

Aria just leant back and took in the relationships that she could see around her. The blonde girl she was sitting next to seemed to enjoy teasing Jason, but Aria could tell that she wouldn't leave her boyfriend, who she was still holding hands with, for anything. She obviously loved him a lot. Spencer's relationship with Jason she was more wary about, and seeing them together made her uneasy, and stirred something in Aria's stomach that she could quite work out.

"Happy birthday, Aria," Jason said quietly, and Aria's stomach swooped in her for reasons she didn't know or want to think about right now. A girl sitting next to the blonde girl's boyfriend passed her down a sausage in a burger bun, and she picked the sausage out daintily between her finger and thumb and nudged Spencer sitting next to her.

"Um, Spencer?" She asked, unsure if she'd got her name right, but Spencer smiled and nodded comfortingly.

"Yes, Aria?"

"I don't want to be a bother, but I actually don't eat any meat, so do you want my sausage?"

"I'm okay, thank you, but if you don't mind, I'll save it for later." She took it from Aria with long slender fingers, and wrapped it up in a napkin. "He'll be hungry later," she said to Jason, sharing a look with him, and he nodded back at her sympathetically.

Aria felt her stomach doing somersaults inside her, and mentally cursed herself. What was wrong with her today?"

Aria ate the rest of the bread carefully, making sure not to get crumbs on her dress, and wiping her fingers on a napkin afterwards.

"I should probably get back," she said to the group sadly. "I really wish I could stay, but my father would probably kill me."

The blonde girl laughed. "I know how it is," she said sympathetically. "My stepdad would do the same if I were in your shoes."

"What are you going back to? You look lovely, by the way," Spencer commented, and Aria felt herself blush.

"Thank you! It's my birthday party. My father organised it, and if I'm missing for long stretches of time, he might notice. But thank you so much for the food, it was lovely."

"It's nothing," Spencer said. "You probably get much nicer food at home."

"Maybe," Aria answered. "But it has never tasted as nice as it did here tonight."

"Have fun tonight," the blonde girl told her, giving her a quick hug. Aria breathed in the scent of the girl's shoulder, and smelt freshly mowed grass and flowers. "It's a party! Make the most of it. I'm sure it can't be that bad."

"Thank you," Aria said. "Goodbye..."

"Hanna," the girl replied. "I'm Hanna."

"It was lovely to meet you, Hanna," Aria said truthfully. She went over and gave Spencer a hug too. Even if she did seem a bit too close to Jason for Aria's liking, she had still been lovely to Aria, and that meant something. "Goodbye, Spencer. Thank you for tonight."

"It was no bother," Spencer said as she pulled back. "Really."

Aria then turned around and wrapped her arms around Jason's torso. "Thank you for inviting me, Jason. It was absolutely lovely. I couldn't imagine a better birthday."

"It was nothing. We were glad to have you." He answered. "I hope you enjoy your party."

"I hope so too," she said, pulling back and gazing into his dark eyes. She quickly searched them, trying to decipher the colour, but quickly realised their current position and stepped back awkwardly. "Thank you everyone." She turned around and started back towards the gap in the hedge, trying to resist the urge to turn around and hurry back to the group and beg to stay a few hours more. She had a party to get back to, and much as she hated it, she had a duty to attend to. Although she could deny the knowledge, as she hurried over to the staircase that led to the back entrance to her house, that she'd be spending the next few hours thinking of caravans and campfires.

"Aria!" her mother, Ella, hurried over to Aria, who was standing in the doorway, looking through into the deserted ballroom. "Where have you been?"

"Um..." Aria tried to think of something, but her mother interrupted.

"It doesn't matter. There's a surprise for you upstairs, on the second-floor balcony. Hurry!" She replied hurriedly, smoothing down her already immaculate red ball gown. "I'll see you in a minute!"

She hurried quickly towards the front of the house, and Aria frowned, but nevertheless made her way up the sweeping staircase towards the second-floor balcony, which happened to also be the largest balcony on the property. She tried to think what the surprise could be, but her thoughts always seemed to come back to her new friends, or at least she hoped they were. They were just so honest and real, so unlike the other rich daughter of her father's friends that her parents considered her friends.

No she thought, shaking her head. She wouldn't think of them. She couldn't. If her parents were to find out, she'd be forbidden to see them ever again, and she couldn't bear that. They may even force Jason and his family and friends to leave the meadow...not, she couldn't think of that. That would not happen; she would make sure of it.

She entered the balcony slowly, and felt a tap on her shoulder. She whipped around, until her eyes can to rest on a pair of blue ones looking back at her, a look both longing and confident projected from them, and she flinched.

"Hey, it's just me," Ezra said to her. "Someone's a bit jumpy today. You shouldn't be. After all, it's your birthday today."

"I know," Aria replied. She'd never felt she could talk to Ezra about anything personal, and this was no exception. "Why are you here, Ezra?"

"Why, does a man need a reason to see his beloved on her birthday?" he asked. "I love you, Aria. I'll visit you whenever I want to."

Aria resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I can't really talk right now, Ezra. My mother told me to come here. She has a surprise for me."

"I know," he grinned. "It's me, Aria. I'm your surprise. I wanted to see you, because I love you. I want you to know just how much, because I'm going to buy us our own mansion, Aria, and we'll have two children, all as beautiful as you, and we'll throw parties like this every week. But first..." he knelt down, and pulled a black velvet box out of his blazer pocket, and Aria's heart almost stopped, for completely the wrong reasons.

Oh no, she thought. Oh no.

"Aria Marie Montgomery, I've loved you since the moment I met you, and I couldn't possibly imagine sharing my wealth without anyone but you. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife and sharing the rest of your life with me?" He glanced briefly to his right, and Aria followed his gaze to see every single guest from the party watching them from the lawn. She could see the tears leaking down her mother's cheeks, and her brother's only-half-interested expression from where she stood, and she knew then that however much she wanted to decline, this decision wasn't for her, it was for her family, and she couldn't say no.

"Yes, Ezra, I'll marry you," she replied, trying to put as much emotion in her answer as possible, and gingerly put her arms around him, wincing internally at all the cheering on the ground below. She closed her eyes, and tried to think of her life with Ezra. The life he'd pictured: a mansion, parties and two children sounded like a curse. It sounded the life her mother had, which she'd always vowed not to follow into, but now it was like her family were planning out her life for her. So she closed her eyes, and tried to think of what happiness felt like. Visions of caravans and Hanna and Spencer and the group of friends and family flushed into her head, and of Jason, handsome Jason with his flawless face and ash-blond hair, and suddenly the idea of marriage didn't seem so bad after all.

She just wished she wasn't marrying Ezra.

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Dear Diary,

It is 2 o'clock in the morning, and the last person left only minutes ago as mother announced that Mike and I were really tired and should be getting to bed, and could everyone possibly leave? Fortunately there were no complaints, and everyone left relatively quietly. Ezra wanted to stay with me longer, but I declined, telling him that I was too tired. He seemed to understand, but I know that I cannot avoid him forever. When we are married, I will have to spend more with him, whether I like it or not, and I will no longer be able to make up excuses. Just the thought of having to spend the rest of my life by Ezra's side makes me feel like a caged bird; something which I never wanted for myself, but what can I do? I have to marry Ezra: my whole family is counting on the marriage, and we have been bound together by that since I was a baby, and he the young eight-year-old who would visit and watch on with interest as I was washed and fed. If I am honest, I am luckily it is Ezra I have to marry. At least I know him, and can hold a civil and pleasant conversation with him. The age gap between us is lower than a lot of other matches that I know of, so I should be grateful. But the truth is that I'm still hoping there's someone out there who is my perfect match; I'm not giving up quite yet. I am going to save my heart, so that if he is out there, I can give him something that Ezra will probably never gain. I still have my virginity, but if we are to be wed, then he will take even that from me. I have told him that I want to wait for marriage, but once he has that he will have nearly everything that I have, and that thought doesn't appeal to me. So for now, my heart is safe.

Love,

Aria.

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**I think the next update will be on BCWYWF, but I'm not making any promises.**


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